Friday, December 28, 2012

In the pan, and even swatched, these colors appear like neutral browns. Once applied, they were more plum toned, leaning slightly cool.

The top left color is a shimmering medium taupe. The top right is a frosty lilac toned off white. The bottom left is a warmer brown taupe. The bottom right color is a matte eggplant tinged brown.

I wish I still had my Prelude quad for comparison swatching, but from memory I'd say that Prelude has more gray than the brownish colors in Raffinement. Here are some close palettes from the stash:

Armani Boudoir has two matte colors, one of which is very warm. The light lilac color does resemble that of Raffinement though. Side note: Armani recently reformulated their eyeshadow quads, and they are amazing! If you like the drier texture in Guerlain quads along with the mixture of complex shimmers and smooth matte colors, you need to try Armani Eyes to Kill Quads. A huge improvement over their predecessors.

bareMinerals The Truth quad has a similar neutral taupe theme. It is more brown than Raffinement though.

Lastly, I hear that Raffinement is a replacement for Kaska Beige. Not even close! Why would Chanel discontinue such a gorgeous quad? Kaska Beige has a deeper burgundy, a light gold, and much more warmth than Raffinement. Totally different.

All of the colors in Raffinement had great payoff and pigment. I did experience some fallout from the deepest shade which was annoying. I like the neutral color scheme of Raffinement, but I am on the fence about pure love. It ends up being a bit redundant in my sea of neutrals.